Towards formative interpretation: a theological hermeneutical proposal

How can we read the Bible to be formed as readers? This question opens a number of possible avenues of academic inquiry, but the one taken in this paper is mainly concerned with hermeneutical questions of how we read the Bible and whether we can formulate a hermeneutical framework for formative interpretation. To that end we analyse interpretative approaches of the modern era and ask whether these are hospitable or hostile to Christian formation. Our findings show the negative effects of pluralism and secularisation that dominate in the field of hermeneutics. Our work then focuses on the development of a theological hermeneutics, within which formative interpretation receives stable goals and criteria. This we achieve in three steps; one, we propose three basic hermeneutical decisions that constitute theological hermeneutics; two, we define and describe formation from a Christian perspective and use those insights as guidelines for formative interpretation; three, we describe two formal characteristics of formative interpretation. In essence, this paper sees formative interpretation as an ecclesial task that focuses on discernment of God’s being and presence in the world, which Scripture witnesses of and explains. Formative interpretation is a holistic task of the reader to bring one’s whole self before God in the reading of Scripture, and in that posture and practice we expect God to speak through the entirety of Scripture to use today.